November 11, 2003
Coach Dennis Franchione and selected players met with members of the media on Tuesday at Cain Hall. The Aggies are preparing travel to Missouri for a regionally-televised game on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at Memorial Stadium in Columbia. Click the link above to hear what Coach Fran and others had to say.
Here is a partial transcript of comments made by Coach Fran during the news conference.
Can you talk about Missouri's football program overall?
"Gary Pinkel has done a great job. They have continued to improve since he has been there. I got to know Gary a few years ago, and I could tell he was going to be the guy that would get that program going. I could tell by his substance that he coaches with, his mentality, and his approach to things. He came up in this profession under a good person in Don James. Gary has been well trained, has had good success, and he is a real competitor and fighter. He is an organized, thorough, detailed guy. I think he has done a nice job. Sometimes you get a player to build around in Brad Smith. He has certainly been a catalyst for their offense. I am sure your question is going to be 'How do you stop Brad Smith?' No body has really stopped him very much. To their credit, I think they have only turned the ball over nine times, five going into last week's game and then four times. That is really a great statistic right there. They don't beat themselves very many times. They may have beaten themselves a little bit last week against Colorado, but that is a tribute to Gary (Colorado's Head Coach Gary Barnett) and those players. Brad is hard to stop. He is athletic. One thing that has stuck out to me is that their defense has gotten steadily better as the year has gone on, and they have improved. They are 4-0 at home. They have struggled on the road, which is not unusual in this conference. It will be a good game."
How do you deal with such a lopsided defeat?
"We are not going to sit around and dwell on it. We are going to press forward, press on, and get ready to play this game. It is the only one we can do anything about. We had good work meetings Sunday. We had a good workout Sunday. The good Lord put our eyes in the front of our head to see where we are going, not where we have been. We are going to focus on that. But I think you have to look at things and learn from them too. I know all of our guys want to get back out there and get back to work and get prepared to play this game."
Did you sense embarrassment from the team? What do you do about it as a coach?
"I think everybody's pride was hurt. I believe the biggest thing is you coach positively, you point things out, and you keep coaching hard. Our coaches are going to do that. You keep trying to put our players in the best position you can to have success, and you keep pressing on. Everybody in our building believes in what we're doing. We know we've got work to do and we're going to keep working at it."
Did you feel stunned on Saturday?
"I think you go through a gamut of emotions. I'm sure there is not one that you can't mention that I didn't feel. There's been a lot of days in coaching where I've closed the door and said 'my oh my.' And I'm sure they're not going to go away. I don't take any loss very good. I am a poor loser. I always will be, and when I quit being one, I'm going to quit doing this. That's one reason I've won, because I can't deal with it or accept it very well. And I don't want to be around anyone any different than that. And when I feel bad about it, I like to spread it around and let everyone feel bad about it with me for a few hours."
Is it hard not to explode feeling all these things?
"I'm going to maintain my class and integrity the best I can. And I'm going to coach our players as positively as I can. If they need to be gotten on for a continued mistake, that's one thing. But you know our coaches love coaching these guys and believe in so much of what they're doing and in them, and we're not going to change. I believe this, if there's one model of this staff it's consistency--day in, day out, not too high, not too low. You know you never savor a win long enough, and you dwell on a loss way too long. I don't know if it was John Madden or who said it that when you lose a little piece of you dies. I think he also said that it comes back when you win-- I'm calling bull on that. I don't think it comes back. Fortunately I haven't had to face those kind of things too often, or I'd probably be dead right now. I think that's true, we put a lot into it, we work a lot of hours, we have an extreme dedication and commitment to it. That's the only way I understand how to do it."
What's the emotion of the team right now, have they had time to rebound?
"I think so. We didn't practice yesterday, but Sunday we had a good workout. Young kids stayed over and we scrimmaged them. We've been doing that the last two or three Sundays to try to get them extra work and extra practice time. We had a good workout with our guys, and we're trying to put our focus on what's ahead and try to get better."
Is this the worst loss you've been associated with?
"It ranks right up there. I've had some long days in coaching, I'd say that would rank right up there with all of them. I remember a game I lost in 2000 to San Jose State and it kept us from being 11-0 and being in a BCS bowl. And I didn't take that loss very good either. It was one of the hardest ones I've had in my career. That's hard to gauge (whether that loss was tougher than Saturday's). It's been a couple years past now. I think as coaches we all live in the present, more than anything else and learn from the past. That was certainly a tough game to swallow, and we came back and responded very well, and that was really good."
Where did your coaching style come from?
"I don't know if I can go back and pinpoint anything. I grew up in college coaching at Kansas State in '78, '79, and '80 and those were tough years. We were on probation and low on scholarship numbers, and a lot of different things. I didn't grow up winning a lot of games right off the bat, in my career as an assistant coach in college. I learned from good people then that you stay the course and keep doing what you're doing. Those were experienced guys that we had on that staff. Those guys taught me a tremendous amount. But I still just have to be me. I can't be any other coach or any other person, I've got to be me. And that's what I believe is best. I believe your players-- it doesn't hurt to step outside the framework of things to get their attention-- but I think they're going to respond best if I'm consistent in the way I handle them, or try to be consistent."
What do you think of the media criticism of your players celebrating during the fourth quarter?
"You know, I saw two kids playing hard, that made a play, that was trying to permeate some of that to their teammates. And we were excited that they made a play. I think anybody that chastises those kids for that wanted them to quit, they didn't want them to keep playing hard, and I think that's wrong."
How frustrating is it when your defensive coordinator is a top-notch respected guy, but the numbers are not reflecting that at all?
"You don't have to look very far in coach Torbush's history to see what kind of coach he is. This staff won 14 of the last 17 coming here, and my confidence in him has not wavered and will not. He's an outstanding coach and a great person. Things take time. You know we went through some ups and down in the beginning at Alabama too. We had a tough, tough day defensively against LSU one day. (Former LSU quarterback) Rohan Davey was on that day, but that defense was third in the nation the next year too. So it's easy for me to have confidence in him."
Are you sensing the defense isn't playing very hard?
"I don't sense that they're not (playing hard). I think they've gotten themselves in a bad position a time or two, and they've been one on one with a good athlete. We need to get more bodies around the ball sometimes, and more people to help them, but they haven't let up."